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8 of 8 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
A new side yet again to Tori Amos' musical genius, 24 May 2009
Whenever a new Tori album comes out inevitable comparisons to Little Earthquakes and Under The Pink are made, as if Tori somehow hasn't the right to grow older, change her style and develop as an artist. Truth is, she's been moving away from piano led songs for a while now and those who have followed her through the years won't be as surprised by the guitars, drums and synthesisers as those who may have recently rediscovered her.
Recent albums have seen Tori write music from the perspective of various fictional personas - one in Scarlet's Walk, five in American Doll Posse. This album marks a return to the more personal type of songs of The Beekeeper, which at times are intimate to herself and at other times allow her to re-emit the absorbed stories of personal circumstance told to her by others. Tori has long ago exorcised the demons in her personal life that gave life to such heart wrenching songs such as Me and a Gun, Playboy Mommy and The Beekeeper, and now stripped of the personas she created to channel experiences she'd not normally write about, many of the songs on Abnormally Attracted To Sin are incredibly relaxed and comfortable within their own skin. Motherhood may not have mellowed Tori, as shown by her heartfelt tirade about religious hypocrisy on Strong Black Vine, but it's clear that the inner turmoil that fuelled a lot of her earlier albums has gone. That doesn't diminish this album though, and makes it her most relaxing album to date.
Most people don't get Tori lyrics because she writes in prose and allegory, her songs constructed to convey feelings to the listener and inspire emotions that let the stories tell themselves. On this album, intricate and beautiful melodies are the flowerbed to lyrics that convey a far greater subtlety of metaphor than before, and it works on an almost subconscious level so that what you initially think is just an interesting song will start triggering images and emotions on the second listen in a way that no conventional pop album could. As long as listeners aren't expecting up-tempo piano ballads, they'll find that listening to this album all the way through is both a relaxing and an uplifting experience. It's a different side yet again to Tori's genius and it's a genuine wonder how she manages to keep doing that.
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7 of 7 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
More Than A Marvel, 14 July 2009
Ms Amos is a true force of nature.
Wild, weirdly wonderful, uncompromising.
For the best part of twenty years she has filled
the lives of those who chose to listen with some
of the most extraordinarily individual music of
any singer/songwriter alive or dead.
There have been a few dull patches scattered here and
there across her ten album recording career but any
minor lapses should be forgiven when considered in
the context of the best that she has done.
'Abnormally Attracted To Sin' is no exception.
There are marvels aplenty to be found here.
The relatively small musical ensemble of Messrs Chamberlain (drums),
Evans (bass), Alladin (guitar) and Shenale (strings & keyboards),
support her sensitively thoughout her endeavours.
The sonic coherence and consistency they contribute to the songs
is never less than apposite.
Ms Amos' voice is, as ever, a powerfully dramatic tool which
pitches her dark materials into vivid life with the solid
confidence of a woman who perfectly understands both her
strengths and her limitations.
The fluid beauty of her piano playing remains peerlessly perfect.
It's a generous set. Eighteen tracks in all.
'Curtain Call' must stand among the best of the best.
A stunning song. Passionate, deeply moving and consumately performed.
'That Guy' is a deliciously mad composition whose serpentine musical
twists and turns are both charming and mysteriously beguiling.
The little blues of 'Mary Jane' is a brightly disturbing
ditty the likes of which few others than Ms Amos could
have brought to life in such a vivid way.
'Starling' is a personal favorite. The miltary snare and
elusively revolving guitar chords spin a fragile web around
a melody of almost medieval simplicity. Truly stunning.
More magic in 'Ophelia' - vintage Amos.
Piano. Voice. A refrain from heaven. Haunting.
'Lady In Blue' is a song for a cabaret at the end of the world.
'Oscar's Theme' brings the project to a quietly magical close.
There is a greater maturity evident in Ms Amos' writing and
performances than ever before. Her legacy remains unimpeachable.
The brightest of beacons in the gathering darkness.
Essential.
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17 of 22 people found the following review helpful:
3.0 out of 5 stars
No Little Earthquakes!, 18 May 2009
I would like to begin this review by saying that I once considered myself one of the biggest Tori Amos fans on the planet. However, I honestly feel she hasn't made a well rounded and completely good album since `From the Choirgirl Hotel' in 1998.
Most Tori fans would agree that her debut `Little Earthquakes' is probably her best album, quickly followed by `Under the Pink' and `Boys for Pele'. Those were albums where the piano, the lyrics, the melodies and the sublime voice all merged to create some of the most breathtaking music of our generation. They were also albums that were produced or co-produced with other people.
`Abnormally Attracted to Sin' does have it's moments but only about one third of the 18 tracks sound like classic Tori. The rest of the songs are fillers that could easily have been omitted from the final album. What's wrong with a 10 or 12 track album?
It is with a heavy heart that I must say that yet again Tori has delivered an album that is too long, too self indulgent and too inaccessible. Very much like her last four albums in fact. Each had some gold buried among a landslide of bad B-Sides.
Tori has self-produced her last few albums with her husband, Mark Hawley, manning the controls in their home studio in Cornwall. Therein lies the problem as if ever there was an artist who needs an editor then Tori is it. When I hear songs like `Maybe California', `500 Miles' and `Flavour' it reminds of how good Tori used to be. But when I hear most of the other tracks here they leave me completely cold.
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